BALTIMORE — Lawyers representing a coalition of supporters of Historically Black Colleges (HBCUs) in Maryland and attorneys for the State of Maryland made their final legal arguments Friday in a federal court trial whose outcome could have widespread implications. A ruling here could impact other states where supporters of public HBCUs claim they have not been equitably funded or allowed to enhance their missions in ways that rid them of policies and practices traceable to the era of legal racial segregation in higher education.
In asking the court to find in its favor, The Coalition for Equality and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education is asking federal Judge Catherine Blake to find the Maryland Higher Education Commission has failed to rid the public higher education system of funding policies and practices traceable to the era of de jure separate policies.
To remedy alleged negative impacts on the institutions the coalition claims continue today, they are asking the court to order the state to spend more than $1 billion on Maryland’s four HBCUs — Morgan State, Coppin State and Bowie State Universities and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore — to enhance the missions of the institutions and allow each to establish “a critical mass” of “unique, high demand programs” to attract more students of all races.
The state has repeatedly failed to do so, they argue, allowing the four universities to steadily lose their competiveness and attractiveness in the higher education marketplace.
The state contends just the opposite.
It could be early next year before Judge Blake issues a decision in the case, filed six years ago this month. An earlier hearing in the case ran six weeks and included the filing of hundreds of pages of evidence and exhibits by coalition and state attorneys.
The case, whose outcome is likely to be appealed by one or both sides in the matter, is considered one of the major cases across the nation in the last half century aimed at addressing inequities between historically Black and White pubic institutions.
